Factsheets

Türkiye is IFAD’s largest recipient of financial assistance in the Europe and Central Asia sub-region. IFAD investments contribute to reducing rural poverty in the upland areas of the country.

This country fact sheet outlines IFAD’s strategy to eradicate poverty in Viet Nam, which focus on developing market-led innovations that aid poor people.

The primary aim of IFAD’s work in Zambia is to increase the income and food security of poor rural people through sustainable, diversified and climate-resilient rural livelihoods.

This programme bolsters Djibouti’s climate adaptation and resilience by bridging multiple sectors, including fisheries, rural development and gender. This required considered coordination and communication among diverse stakeholders.

Luxembourg is a long-standing partner with development priorities that align with IFAD’s mandate.

IFAD supports Pacific Island countries to develop inclusive, productive, resilient and sustainable food systems that are community-driven.

The strong partnership between IFAD and Brazil is based on a shared commitment to reducing poverty and pursuing innovative ways to assist rural communities.

The State of Qatar played a major role in the establishment of IFAD in 1977 and has been a key supporter of IFAD for the past 46 years.

The State of Kuwait played a major role in the establishment of IFAD in 1977 and has been a key supporter of IFAD for the past 46 years.

The United Arab Emirates played a major role in the establishment of IFAD in 1977 and has been a key supporter of the Fund for the past 46 years.

Saudi Arabia is a founding member of IFAD and has been a key supporter of the Fund for the past 46 years. Since IFAD’s inception, Saudi Arabia’s financial and strategic support has been critical to combating poverty and strengthening food systems in developing countries.

The Kingdom of Belgium is a founding member of IFAD and has been a key partner to the Fund since its inception, shaping its strategic directions and sharpening its focus in support of the most vulnerable rural areas, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 50 per cent of IFAD’s resources are invested.

This factsheet outlines IFAD’s strategy to reduce poverty in Uganda while improving their food security and reducing their vulnerability. It also outlines ongoing operations in the country.

IFAD has been engaged in South Sudan since 2011. Its long-term vision for the country is to gradually contribute to the reduction of food and nutrition insecurity and poverty among rural women and youth through inclusive and sustainable agriculture and livelihood transformation.

IFAD and Finland share a vision of a world without poverty and hunger. At a time of cascading global crises and mounting vulnerability to climate
change among the world’s poorest people, the partnership between IFAD and Finland is committed to a mutual focus on supporting resilient, inclusive and sustainable food systems that can break the cycle of crises and enable small-scale farmers to improve their livelihoods.

 

Italy and IFAD share a commitment to a world where people have access to affordable, safe, nutritious and sufficient food. Italy plays a key leadership role in strengthening the Fund’s financial architecture, which enabled IFAD to become the first United Nations fund to receive a credit rating (AA+) and the only development finance institution to systematically conduct impact assessments across its portfolio.

Austria and IFAD are committed to building a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient future and to jointly eradicating poverty and hunger around the world.

France and IFAD share a commitment to ending poverty and hunger through sustainable rural development. Both place smallholder farmers and rural people at the centre of their agenda and recognize the crucial role of agriculture to increase food security, reduce poverty and mitigate climate change.

Altogether, IFAD has implemented 19 projects in Sri Lanka, benefiting 654,832 households at a total cost of US$654.57 million (with IFAD providing US$340.49 million in financing).

IFAD’s Executive Board approved its first loan to the United Republic of Tanzania in 1978 – the second loan ever approved by the board. 

Denmark and IFAD share a long-standing partnership to fight poverty and hunger. Agriculture and the food sector are the basis of their common approach to promoting sustainable rural transformation, which is essential to tackling environmental degradation and climate change.

IFAD and Norway share a vision of a world without poverty and hunger.

IFAD and Switzerland are both advocating for a peaceful world with zero poverty and hunger. With more than 40 years of partnership, they are committed to working together for a more sustainable, resilient and inclusive future.

Sharing a vision on the importance of achieving a world without hunger and poverty – and the sustainable development interventions needed to get there – the United States and IFAD have been working together since IFAD’s inception in 1977.

Spain is a founding member of IFAD and has contributed a total of US$105.76 million to the regular resources of the Fund since it was established in 1977. The partnership between Spain and IFAD focuses on investing in smallholder agriculture to ensure food and nutrition security.

IFAD and Sweden share a vision of a world without poverty and hunger and a commitment to support small-scale farmers to improve their livelihoods through the establishment of inclusive, resilient and sustainable food systems.

 

Ireland and IFAD share a commitment to empower rural people to overcome poverty and hunger through sustainable development.

IFAD was the first international financial institution to lend to China. Since 1981, IFAD has worked with China to eliminate extreme poverty, increase
food security and nutrition, and promote agricultural and rural development.

Canada and IFAD have a long-standing partnership to end poverty and hunger. Both are invested in inclusive and sustainable transformation, particularly for rural populations.

IFAD’s strategy in Mozambique is to contribute to rural transformation by strengthening nutrition and agriculture linkages and focusing more on value chains and food systems.

Since IFAD’s establishment in 1977, the Netherlands has been a reliable partner and contributor, supporting IFAD’s core budget with a total of US$717 million and placing itself among the Fund’s five top donors.

To date, 12 projects have been conducted in the country, at a total cost of US$950.48 million, with IFAD financing amounting to US$309.08 million. An estimated 1,565,500 households have benefited directly.

Germany and IFAD place small-scale farmers and rural people – especially women and youth – at the heart of their development priorities for achieving a world with no hunger (Sustainable Development Goal 2). 

 

 

IFAD’s strategic focus is closely aligned with Japan’s official development assistance priorities, including promoting food security and nutrition.

In Angola, IFAD loans support efforts to improve food security and rebuild the livelihoods of poor rural people through rural and agricultural development. 

IFAD began operations in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 1978. Our strategy is to invest in rural people, empowering them to increase their food security, improve the nutrition of their families and increase their incomes.

IFAD began operations in Malawi in 1981 and has provided US$731.96 million in financing (including partner cofinancing) for 14 programmes and projects benefiting more than 2 million households.

The Republic of Korea is one of the founding members of IFAD and currently sits on the Fund’s Executive Board. The Republic of Korea and IFAD remain committed to eradicating poverty and hunger, and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

IFAD is a key partner in Haiti’s rural development. Its series of strategies, projects and programmes since 1978 testify to its long-standing commitment against rural poverty, with the active participation and inclusion of the Haitian rural population.

IFAD has been working in India for more than 40 years. The current country strategic opportunities programme is fully aligned with the government’s policy framework. 

IFAD’s strategy in Ethiopia focuses on providing smallholder farmers, pastoralists and agropastoralists with the critical assets they need to enhance productivity and resilience. These include natural resources, technology, finance, institutional capacity and access to markets.

Since 1981, IFAD has financed 19 rural development programmes and projects in Rwanda, for a total amount of US$358.04 million, and directly benefiting about 1,540,157 rural households.

Since 1979, IFAD has invested US$455.09 million in 20 programmes and projects in Kenya (at a total cost of US$980.31 million), in support of the Government’s efforts to reduce rural poverty.

Since 1979, IFAD has funded 17 rural development projects in Madagascar for a total of US$434.285 million. Four projects are currently ongoing.

IFAD and Slow Food share a vision of supporting small-scale, diversified production and consumption mechanisms that focus on improving the marketing of local products. 

IFAD country programme in Egypt is the largest in the Near East and North Africa. In total, IFAD has invested in 14 agricultural development projects and programmes for a total Cost of US$ 1.1 billion, with IFAD direct financing of US$ 519.28 million benefitting around 7 million people.

IFAD has worked in Bangladesh for almost 40 years. It has supported 34 projects, costing a total of US$2,356 million, with IFAD financing of US$913 million. 

Sudan became a Member State of IFAD in 1977, with the first IFAD loan being approved in 1979.

This brochure provides an overview of our work with Spain to invest in poor rural youth, women and men and assist countries in achieving the SDGs.

In Burkina Faso, IFAD loans help better manage natural resources, in addition to building inclusive and sustainable institutions through pro-poor investments and policies and supporting innovation and education.

IFAD’s strategy in Papua New Guinea is to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers by increasing production volumes and quality, and to improve access to markets, technologies and services in order to increase farmers’ share of added value.

Over the last 40 years, IFAD and the Government of Indonesia have invested more than US$1 billion in rural people to strengthen inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic growth. 

IFAD partnered with the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) and UN-Habitat to conceptualize and develop gender-responsive and fit-for-purpose tools and approaches to evaluate the impact of land tenure and governance interventions.

IFAD has invested in rural development in the Kyrgyz Republic since 1996.

IFAD is the only one of China’s development partners dedicated exclusively to reducing poverty and increasing food and nutrition security in rural areas.

Collaboration between the Republic of Moldova and IFAD began in 1999. IFAD has supported seven projects totalling US$196.8 million, with IFAD financing of US$109.2 million.

This initiative's goal was to develop and disseminate innovative tools and approaches to strengthen tenure security in target communities using low-cost and gender-sensitive technologies. 

India is a founding member of IFAD, and the IFAD–India partnership spans more than 40 years. India is not only the largest recipient of IFAD’s investments, but also a significant contributor,

The Russian Federation and IFAD share a common commitment to reducing poverty, improving food security and achieving more sustainable economic growth for small-scale farmers and other vulnerable rural populations.

IFAD remains one of the most important technical and financial partners in Sao Tome and Principe's rural sector, and its work has sparked the development of strategies and mechanisms to support poor rural populations, especially women, and their effective inclusion in relevant development interventions.

Since IFAD began its operations in Pakistan in 1978, the focus has been on combating rural poverty by promoting integrated participatory rural development.

Nepal was one of the first countries to benefit from IFAD loans, beginning in 1978.

Depuis 1984, le FIDA a investi 174,65 millions d’USD dans 11 programmes et projets en Côte d’Ivoire, pour un financement total de 384,37 millions d’USD.

Since 1982, IFAD has supported 10 programmes and projects in The Gambia totalling US$93 million and directly benefiting more than 155,000 rural households. 

The current IFAD country strategy note for Guinea-Bissau is based on the political priorities defined by Terra Ranka, as well as the sectoral priorities and programmes of the National Agricultural Investment Programme.

IFAD began operations in Guinea in 1980. Since then, it has invested US$244 million in 14 projects for a total cost of US$469.6 million, directly benefiting 651,450 rural households. 

Depuis 1980, le FIDA a financé 14 projets et programmes en Mauritanie pour un coût total de 342,3 millions d’USD, dont 136,2 millions d’USD octroyés sous la forme de dons ou de prêts concessionnels.

Au Sénégal, le FIDA suscite et accompagne les initiatives locales qui visent à améliorer la sécurité alimentaire, à augmenter les revenus des ruraux pauvres, à créer des emplois pour les jeunes et les femmes notamment et à améliorer leurs conditions de vie.

The E-Project for Agricultural Development and Economic Empowerment (E-PADEE) is a US$380,000 programme implemented in Cambodia with
funding from the Republic of Korea in partnership with IFAD. 

Depuis 1978, le FIDA a financé 5 projets et programmes de développement rural au Cabo Verde, pour un montant total de 49,9 millions d’USD.

Depuis 1982, le FIDA a financé 13 projets au Mali pour un coût total de 537 millions USD, dont 229 millions sous forme de prêts à conditions particulièrement favorables.

The IFAD-funded SWAZI BEEF project set out to increase the quality of livestock and meat products and to diversify farmers’ incomes in the sugar-cane-producing areas of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) through targeted support to farmers and other value chain actors (livestock producers, butchers/meat processors, financial institutions and input providers). 

IFAD has been investing in the rural poor in Tajikistan since 2008, by strengthening local institutions and grass-roots organizations, and expanding their access to land, productive technologies and resources. 

IFAD has enjoyed a long history of a strong and successful partnership with the Government of Azerbaijan in rural poverty reduction and overall agricultural development efforts, with focused interventions in remote and sometimes difficult to reach areas of the country where extreme pockets of poverty exist.

IFAD has been investing in Uzbekistan since 2012, providing financing worth US$81.7 million to three loan-financed projects/programmes that are intended to directly benefit 98,800 households at a total cost of US$81.7 million. 

Since 1980, IFAD has financed 13 rural development programmes and projects in Tunisia for a total cost of US$453 million, with an IFAD investment of US$194.6 million directly benefiting 125,850 rural households. 

The grant mainstreamed climate-smart, tree-based agricultural good practices into the climate adaptation and mitigation programmes of governments, NGOs and the private sector in Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam.

Niger covers a landlocked 1,267,000 km² tract of the Sahel north of Nigeria. With a poverty rate of 48.9 per cent and income per capita of US$420, Niger is one of the world’s poorest nations. In 2015, it ranked last among 188 countries measured by the United Nations Human Development Index

The China-IFAD South-South and Triangular Cooperation Facility was established in February 2018 and is the first Facility in IFAD dedicated to SSTC.

The project “Connecting Fairtrade Communities to ICT” in Papua New Guinea is a small grant of US$360,000 funded by the Republic of Korea in partnership with IFAD. 

The project aimed to promote a more dynamic insertion of small rural producers into value chains as a way to foster structural change in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The programme aimed to intensify the cropping systems with grain legumes to improve the productivity and sustainability of rainfed agriculture while diversifying smallholder farmers’ income-generating opportunities. 

This programme, also known as FinServAccess, aimed to enhance access to sustainable rural financial services for smallholder producers and
agroentrepreneurs, so they are better equipped to face emerging challenges and benefit from new opportunities.

The grant is one of three projects implemented under a broader regional programme (Adaptation to Change) financed by IFAD, the Government of Norway, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). 

The programme Strengthening Knowledge Sharing on Innovative Solutions Using Learning Route (LR) Methodology1 in Asia and the Pacific (ROUTASIA) is the second phase of a four-year IFAD-funded large grant to Procasur Corporation. 

The Outreach Project was implemented in selected African countries (Gambia, Mozambique, and Tanzania) and aimed to improve the financia inclusion strategies of ongoing IFAD-funded operations by transferring and adapting innovative solutions, tools and methodologies previously tested in various countries of the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region.

Peru has made great strides in poverty reduction over the past decade, leading to a significant decline in the national poverty rate from 42.4 per cent in 2004 to 20.7 per cent in 2015. Nevertheless, by 2016 the gap between rural and urban poverty had tripled, at 44 per cent versus 14 per cent. Income inequality among Peruvian households remained virtually unchanged between 2004 and 2015. The most salient result is differential access by urban and rural people to education, health care, financial services and productive assets.

The goal was to improve the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers through the adoption of integrated crop–livestock conservation agriculture.

Cameroon’s economy is mainly agriculture-based, with almost three quarters of the economically active population in rural areas employed in agricultural pursuits.

The overall goal of the grant funding was to strengthen the capacity of development practitioners in developing countries to identify, design and
implement more effective interventions aimed at increasing access to rural and agricultural finance.

The goal of the project was to increase the income of rural smallholder vegetable producers through the improved safety and quality of vegetables in the supply chain for domestic markets.

The United Kingdom and IFAD are working closely together to meet Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2: ending poverty and hunger by 2030. They have made a special commitment to boost inclusive and sustainable economic paths and create jobs in the poorest rural areas of the world, especially in Africa, where 10 to 12 million young people enter the labour market every year.

Of the US$450 billion that migrant workers send home to developing countries every year, between 30 and 40 per cent goes to rural areas. At the starting point of the migration chain, people leave rural areas to seek opportunities elsewhere due to a lack of opportunities closer to home. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are uniquely capable of serving the needs of remittance recipients, while reinvesting surplus funds to improve opportunities for the local community.

The MilkIT research for development project set out to improve dairy-centred livelihoods in India and Tanzania through intensification of smallholder
production focused on enhancement of feeds and feeding using innovation platforms and value chain approaches.

The project worked in the state of Uttarakhand in India and in Morogoro and Tanga regions in Tanzania. In both countries dairy has considerable potential to improve the livelihoods and nutrition of poor farming families but this potential has been underexploited. MilkIT focused on improving milk productivity through multistakeholder engagement to increase milk marketing and dairy cow feeding.

Over the past 25 years, the Dominican Republic has enjoyed one of the strongest growth rates in Latin America and the Caribbean. Recent growth has been driven by construction, manufacturing and tourism.

Brazil is a major agricultural and industrial power, has the strongest economy in Latin America and the Caribbean, and is the seventh-largest economy in the world. It is the fourth-largest agricultural producing country, the main producer of coffee, sugarcane and citrus, and the second largest soybean, beef and poultry producer.

Mexico is the second-largest economy in Latin America. Despite being a large, upper-middle-income country, Mexico continues to have high rural poverty levels and wide social and economic disparities. While only about 21 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, they represent roughly two thirds of the extremely poor.

In Argentina, IFAD helps reduce rural poverty by investing in smallholder farmer organisations and indigenous communities to increase their income. The country programme strategy (2016-2021) is based on national priorities and has three strategic objectives focusing on income and strategic opportunities; human and social capital; and institutional development.

The strategy emphasizes the central role farmer and community organizations play in rural transformation processes. Key activities include:
• bolstering the economic sustainability of families and organizations by improving and diversifying productive activities, building resilience, improving their negotiating power in value chains, and promoting good nutritional practices
• strengthening the capacity of poor rural people and organizations by improving their managerial capacity, socio-economic condition, and their ability to engage in dialogue with the public sector
• building the capacity of government institutions to support rural development.

IFAD has a unique mandate and unmatched experience working in remote areas where others don’t go, and where poverty is most entrenched. IFAD-supported projects work directly with the most marginalized and disadvantaged people.

They focus on rural women, youth and indigenous communities. Our loans and grants enable developing countries to increase food production, create jobs and protect resources.

With Fostering Agricultural Revitalization in Myanmar (FARM), the first project it has financed in Myanmar, IFAD is scaling up the best parts of regional and global projects, both its own and those of other organizations. For example, FARM has introduced a new method to complement pre-existing extension services.

This is benefiting both farmers and landless microentrepreneurs across the project area. At the heart of FARM’s innovation is the establishment of Knowledge Centres (KCs). Built on the structure and network of public extension services, the KCs are staffed by a ministry extension worker – the KC Manager. The KC Manager brings together farmers and microentrepreneurs in common interest groups, and helps them make the most of newly available extension services.

The Integrated Approach Programme on food security in Sub-Saharan Africa targets agro-ecological systems where the need to enhance food security is directly linked to opportunities for generating local and global environmental benefits.

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa experience losses equivalent to 30- 40 per cent of total yields due to pests that attack their crops.

They need help to diagnose the problem and identify practical, economic, feasible and environmentally safe measures to deal with them. 

The goal of this programme was to significantly increase the productivity of key crops and/or improve household incomes for smallholder farmers by establishing plant clinics and training plant doctors. 

The Integrated Approach Programme on food security in Sub-Saharan Africa targets agro-ecological systems where the need to enhance food security is directly linked to opportunities for generating local and global environmental benefits. 

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is often overlooked as a source of water supply. Yet it holds great potential to address the ever-increasing shortages of water globally. The huge potential of RWH for multiple-use services, such as food production, soil and water conservation and water, sanitation and hygiene, has not been adequately recognized, and certainly not implemented, as a solution for water problems on a wider and larger scale.

 

RWH initiatives are still too scattered and the lessons and results not shared. Policies, legal regulations and government budgets often do not include RWH in integrated water resource management and poverty reduction strategies.

Over the past ten years, formal recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples has significantly advanced, beginning with the adoption in 2007 by the United Nations General Assembly of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). With more than 30 years of experience working with indigenous peoples, IFAD empowers communities to participate fully in determining strategies for their development and to pursue their own goals and visions. Over the last decade, IFAD has taken steps to support indigenous peoples’ control of their own development efforts.

This publication touches on the evolution of IFAD’s engagement with indigenous peoples through the voices and perspectives of the people who worked together in this process of change. In line with the approach of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind, the IFAD Strategic Framework 2016-2025 reaffirms IFAD’s commitment to indigenous peoples’ self-driven development. The quotes and pictures contained here were gathered during the third global meeting of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum, at IFAD from 10 to 13 February 2017.

A recent study by the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC)1 of Mozambique suggests that within ten years the impact of climate change will be increasingly felt within the Limpopo Corridor. The soil moisture content before the onset of the rains is set to decrease and higher temperatures and droughts are expected to increase in the southern region.

The goal of PROSUL is to improve the livelihoods and climate resilience of smallholder farmers in selected districts of the Maputo and Limpopo Corridors.

The programme, referred to as the Strengthening Rural Institutions (SRI) project, was implemented by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Eastern and Southern Africa Region from 2011 to 2014. The project aimed to bring about a sustainable rural transformation process by strengthening the “institutional infrastructure” for integrated natural resource management, food security and poverty alleviation in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. 

The project’s main goal was to support grassroots organizations to meaningfully participate in governance processes where their livelihoods and well-being, and the environment, are at stake, with an emphasis on enabling poor rural households to aggregate, mobilize and access rural services.

The goal of this programme was to develop spate irrigation policies and programmes, based on action research and documented practical experiences, that contribute to rural poverty alleviation and accelerated economic growth in marginal areas in Ethiopia, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen. 

Specific objectives:  1. Strengthen networks in the four countries. 2. Prepare country policy notes. 3. Implement two innovative action research activities per country that can be scaled up. 4. Further develop knowledge, including in local languages, and open-source knowledge-sharing. 5. Train four international MSc students. 6. Incorporate spate irrigation into programmes of universities and agricultural colleges in the four target countries. 7. Create a global inventory of spate irrigation and flood-based farming systems. 8. Provide technical backstopping to IFAD projects and country programmes.

The goal of this grant was to provide best business case options to producers and consumers to recover nutrients, water and energy from agricultural and domestic wastes for food security and food safety. The project sought to identify innovative market-driven and scalable approaches to enhance the sustainability of agricultural production considering environmental and health requirements of immediate users and end-consumers. 

The development challenges were to: 1. identify and share pathways with relevant stakeholders to make business cases more replicable, scalable and sustainable; 2. strengthen national, regional and local stakeholder platforms (from agricultural and/or sanitation sectors) by extending their interest in knowledge of safe reuse as a business; 3. formulate initiatives from donors, government departments and/or the private sector in order to incorporate project results. 

The programme’s goals were to increase the food security of smallholder farm households in southern Africa and enhance their livelihoods while conserving and improving the natural resources used for agriculture.

The focus of the programme was on developing productive farming systems for smallholder farmers who managed maize-based systems, based on the principles of conservation agriculture (CA): increasing the profitability, sustainability and labour efficiency of agricultural production.

Historically, pastoralists have been marginalized, and policies have been geared towards encouraging, and in some instances forcing, their settlement and sedentarization. Misunderstanding of their livelihoods has also led to abandonment of their customary institutions and practices. However, scientific evidence shows that mobile pastoralism is the most sustainable way of using marginal lands (such as arid, cold and mountain areas). The project goal was “to develop sustainable land management and resilient livelihoods in rangeland environments”. 

The objective of the project was to develop knowledge and build capacity for pastoral advocacy, create opportunity for pastoral advocacy and engage directly in policy dialogue, in order to promote policies and investments for sustainable management of rangeland environments and pastoral livelihoods. A significant aspect of the project was strengthening networking and building a global movement on sustainable pastoralism; this relied on the credibility and recognition of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a science-based intergovernmental organization.

This programme set out to empower 35,000 vulnerable women and men in rural value chains directly and another 65,000 indirectly through direct and peer capacity-building and action learning to negotiate a better position in value chains and achieve sustainable and equitable “win-win” collaboration between value chain stakeholders. 

The programme aimed to adapt and integrate participatory action learning methodologies into the policies and practices of at least 10 civil society organizations (CSOs) and to disseminate them through e-forums and capacity- building events then to be taken up by other relevant IFAD and Oxfam projects, in countries such as Ghana, India and Sierra Leone. Knowledge institutes also contributed to participatory planning and gender mainstreaming in value chain research and training.

IFAD’s support to the Nigerian Government’s poverty reduction programme in rural areas targets large numbers of smallholder farmers and is essentially people-centred. IFAD supports programmes and projects that work with communities, and with smallholder farmers as the key players.

During the period covered by the project, the landscape of global microfinance was deeply modified and “the game has changed”. On the one hand, the saturation of the market has led to over-indebtedness of very poor clients, scandals and systemic crises that have swept the whole sector in some prominent countries. On the other hand, it has been difficult for the industry to demonstrate tangible impact and, therefore, show that it has delivered against its promises of lifting hundreds of millions of very poor people out of poverty.

In this challenging context, the project aimed to help unlock the economic potential in sub-Saharan Africa, by promoting the growth of existing financial intermediaries that serve rural areas (rural financial institutions, RFIs) so that local entrepreneurs could take advantage of new opportunities to be more productive and more competitive, and improve their living conditions sustainably.

The goal of the grant was to develop home-based production of charcoal from cooking with firewood into a new livelihood opportunity – and thus create a sustainable value chain for the economic empowerment of poor rural women.

Women from poor rural households in Ethiopia, India and Tanzania were trained to put out fires when they had finished cooking in order to prevent smouldering, and to collect household charcoal through collection clusters, process it into briquettes and market the output through innovative partnership-based enterprises.

Transparent performance reporting is a key requirement for effective resultsbased management of IFAD rural finance interventions. Better reporting, tracking and management have benefits throughout the entire IFAD project cycle, from design to implementation and learning from performance data, and for actors at different levels: partner financial service providers (FSPs); programme coordination units (PCUs); government policymakers; and IFAD decision makers and managers.

The goal of this initiative was to contribute to establishing an inclusive financial system that meets the needs of the rural poor by supporting the growth of healthy microfinance markets and microfinance service providers. Underpinning this goal is the notion that timely and credible information is critical to the functioning of markets.

The programme supported innovation funds working directly with communities to scale up approaches in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Uganda and Viet Nam.

IFAD’s strategy in Nicaragua supports the efforts of farmers’ organizations and the government to increase inclusive growth in the agricultural sector as a vehicle for reducing poverty, generating employment and improving family food consumption, as well as contributing to sustainability and the replication of good practices. The strategic objectives centre on:
• Inclusion. Access is facilitated to assets, markets and income-generating activities, and job opportunities increase.
• Productivity. Labour productivity is increased through incentives that facilitate access to information, technology and technical and financial services.
• Sustainability. Environmental, fiscal and institutional sustainability are improved.

Ethiopia is the second most populated African country with an estimated 96.9 million citizens. Of the total population, 81 per cent are classified as rural. The population is also growing at a rate of around 3 per cent per year. Whilst extreme poverty is declining, it is still widespread and in 2011 was counted at 30 per cent. 

Malawi is a densely populated landlocked country with a population of 17.7 million. Its population growth is about three per cent per year, and it has one of lowest GDPs in the world, with a human development index (HDI) ranking of 174 out of 187 countries. Many Malawians (51 per cent) live below the poverty line of US$1 per day, and this poverty incidence is mainly rural (85 per cent). Endemic poverty has also led to chronic food insecurity and malnutrition for 2.8 million Malawians, combined with HIV/AIDs prevalence of nearly 12 per cent.  

The purpose of this study is to map nutrition-sensitive interventions in IFAD-funded projects in the ESA region, and to provide guidance for effective nutrition mainstreaming operations. 

The specific objectives are to: 

(1) map the various interventions used in delivering nutrition-sensitive activities; 

(2) identify pathways for nutrition outcomes; 

(3) evaluate the scale and scope of intervention implementation; 

(4) assess the effect of the project on beneficiaries; 

(5) identify and map areas of opportunities for scaling up; 

and (6) identify challenges, weaknesses and gaps. 

Since 1979, IFAD has financed 14 rural development projects for a total of US$268.6 million.

More than half of the Philippines’ 100 million people live in rural areas and many of them are poor. Agriculture is the primary and often only source of income for poor rural people, most of whom depend on subsistence farming and fishing for their livelihoods. Illiteracy, unemployment and the incidence of poverty are generally higher among indigenous peoples and people living in upland areas.

Declining soil fertility, escalating costs of farm inputs and lack of capacity are persistent problems that farmers in eastern Africa continue to grapple with. Such factors have resulted in high levels of poverty and food insecurity due to poor performance of the agriculture sector. Climate change adds a big blow to the already bad scenario with serious ramifications on the smallholder-farming subsector. The region is predicted to experience warmer temperatures and decreased rainfall from June to August by 2050. This being an important season for food production in countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia, adaptation measures are necessary for sustainable food production. Evergreen Agriculture refers to the practice of incorporating selected trees and/or shrub species into annual cropping fields. It can be practiced under conventional farming practices but ideally seeks to combine agroforestry with the principles of conservation farming. Evergreen agriculture practices are now part of the solution to tackle climate change and the adoption is on a rising trend in several countries in the region. Conservation Agriculture, including agroforestry, specialty crops, and permanent cropping systems, promotes food sufficiency, poverty reduction, and value added production through improved crop and animal production and production in relation to market opportunities. 

Developing smallholder pig value chains in Uganda to increase rural incomes and adapt to climate change.